Goji did nothing but complain as the sticky bits of his giant chocolate chunk muffin prison were washed off his hospital gown and bandages.
Kyou ignored his complaints and kept her focus on Mai. She was establishing a navigational route. In space travel, gravity and celestial bodies constantly shift. What could be called a straight line perpetually bends and warps. Traveling from one planet to another requires advanced mathematical calculations to find the optimal path.
The computer chirped. A solution was found.
"Gravity slingshot around Hogar, then straight to Sagesse," Mai explained the route. Kyou nodded; she trusted the child's judgment in this matter. Mai was a savant, especially when it came to these kinds of technological things. That's why she was selected for this mission. The fewer people she had to rely on, the better.
"Good. Do it."
Mai nodded and obeyed Kyou's command. The ship lurched to the right as it changed course. Goji slipped in the shower and landed hard on his already bruised tuchus. He smacked Kyou's hand away when she tried to help him back up onto his feet.
Kyou stepped back and watched the grumpy boy. He had every right to be upset. For all intents and purposes, she had just kidnapped him. And washing muffin and chocolate bits out of his bandages —while necessary— must be agonizing.
"I'm sorry," Kyou began.
"You're sorry?" Goji spat. "Sorry about what? About abducting me? About letting that monster eat me alive? If you're sorry, why did you do it?" Goji had heard that exact line from Jitsuno countless times, rebuking his reckless behavior. He hated it, but it felt good to use against her.
"Why did I do it?" Kyou took a step back and leaned against a wall. "Because your life is in danger. Because I thought kidnapping you was better than letting you die. That's what I still think. I'm sorry it came to this. I'm sorry you're in pain. I'm sorry things turned out this way."
"You keep saying that, that I'm in danger," Goji growled as he winced in pain from his bandages. "From what?"
Kyou tossed Goji a soft towel. "I need to change your bandages. You shouldn't have sugar near open wounds. I will tell you everything I know."
Kyou led Goji to a medical room, a standard fixture on most long-distance ships. Doctors and spiritual healers would use a room like this for mild to moderate conditions during extended voyages. But in his current state, Goji should have absolutely been recovering in a hospital. No doctor would have cleared him for space travel, especially not with the forces involved in reaching a planet's escape velocity.
She had Goji sit on a table in the middle of the room and face out a window. He watched the stars go by. A familiar feeling from his time on a starliner washed over him; a time when he was with friends and all was right in his world.
He was suddenly ripped from his reverie when pain radiating from near his left shoulder blade shot through him. He responded with a sharp intake of air through clenched teeth.
Kyou carefully washed and treated a wound on Goji's back. She took a close look at the stitches to see if they held or needed replacing. Some would, so she would have to examine every set.
"You think you are a Templar of Shinjin," Kyou began, choosing her words with extreme precision. "But what sets you apart from other Templars is the absence of Spirit Rings."
Goji knew he didn't have spirit rings. He also knew he could expect to get them when he married Sumitsu. It was all explained to him before. He tried explaining that to Kyou, but she just shook her head sadly.
"That's not how any of this works. Everyone has spirit rings. Sparks have one ring. Pre-mortal spirits have two. Mortals have three. Templars have four. Avatars have five or more. You have zero."
Goji didn't respond. He didn't trust this elf just yet, so he didn't know whether to take her words at face value or not.
Kyou misinterpreted Goji's silence as his attempt to understand his situation, so she continued. "You are an anomaly, Goji; an Unknown. And there are those who fear the unknown. So much so, they would seek to end your life for fear of what you could do."
"What can I do?" Goji asked absently, a habit he picked up to get people talking when he wasn't really paying attention.
"For starters, you can punch clean through a Dryad's spirit shield as if it wasn't even there, knocking him unconscious and dropping a pile of wood on top of your head."
Goji snapped back to attention, "Is that what happened?"
"It is. I witnessed it. And with the help of my Patron Avatar, I was able to see the precise moment. Unfortunately, it also means that anyone else who was looking will see it as well. If not now, then soon.
Goji began to open up to Kyou. Things she said seemed to fall into place. Just then, he looked up and noticed a familiar sight through the window. A one-man starfighter painted violet with spots similar to those of a leopard.
"I know that ship," Goji remarked, his excitement subdued by his injuries.
"So do I," Kyou said. It was true, but there was a lie of omission hidden in that statement. Not only did she know who it belonged to, she could guess why they're here.
And her guess was confirmed as they watched the glow of energy weapons charging up before firing two bright bolts of energy that caused the whole ship to rock.
Goji left Kyou no choice.
His reckless behavior was likely to get him killed, and possibly kill everyone else with him.
In the chaos that followed the first volley from the violet starfighter, Kyou tied and gagged Goji, then threw him into a storage closet and locked it. "Stay there, stay quiet, and maybe we'll get out of this alive."
Goji shouted something back, straining against his binds, but his gag made his mumbling inaudible.
Kyou dashed back to the ship's controls. "Status," she barked.
"Shields are holding," Mai replied.
"Open a channel," Kyou commanded. "Cease your assault, or we will be forced to defend ourselves." One of the screens on Kyou's console connected the video call, confirming what Kyou knew: the identity of the enemy pilot, Satori.
"Kyou? Why?" Satori's usually expressionless face twisted with the flood of conflicting emotions inside her. "I have been commanded to fight the coward Goji to the death in honorable combat. I know he's aboard your ship. Surrender him to me, my old friend."
"Commanded?" Kyou fully understood the gravity of the situation. As a High Templar, to disobey a direct commandment from her Patron Diety or their Avatars was punishable beyond the grave. If Kyou gave Goji to Satori for honorable combat, one would die. Based on what she saw at the tournament, it would definitely be Goji, especially given his injuries. But if she kept Goji safe from her, she'd be sentencing her best friend to damnation. "I-" Kyou tried to say.
It was at this most inconvenient of moments that Goji managed to kick open the locked storage closet door and leap out from it, still mostly bound. "This sore loser is the one who has been shooting at us?"
Kyou stared incredulously at the boy. He IS trying to get himself killed!
"Surrender him now, Kyou." Satori's rage was barely contained.
"I can't," Kyou mumbled. "I'm so sorry, Satori."
Satori's brow furrowed into a scowl. A breath, then, "Goodbye, my friend." Then Kyou's screen went dark.
"What is wrong with you?" Kyou raged at Goji. "Do you want to die?"
"I beat her before; I can do it again." Goji retorted defiantly.
"You beat her on a technicality because I asked her to hold back!" Kyou spat angrily. "And in your condition, she will end you."
"Why would you do that?" Goji raged back.
"Because if she kills you, you can't be brought back!"
Goji's mouth hung agape, not comprehending her last statement. Everyone else who had been slain at the tournament was resurrected. What made him different? Before he could even ask for an explanation, the whole ship rocked sideways from an explosion. Satori had resumed her attack.
"Mai, get us out of here!" Kyou pleaded.
"Jump drive inoperable," Mai shouted back. "Propulsion systems at 30%."
"Can we do anything?"
"Weapons system online." The ship rocks violently from another attack. "Shields failing."
"Return fire! Target her weapon systems!"
Mai furiously handled the controls with precision. She aimed their cannons at the Satori's ship and returned fire. Yellow bolts of light streaked through space.
The purple ship's afterburners went into full drive and nimbly dodged every bolt. Well, almost every bolt. A single shot managed to penetrate her shields. But it wasn't her weapons systems. Of all the things to hit, Mai managed to strike the life support system. Mai realized her mistake and told Kyou immediately.
Kyou tried to open a channel with Satori. "Let us go," Kyou pleaded. "Land your ship, repair it, and come hunt us again later." Satori didn't respond.
"She's coming around," Mai stated.
"You only have a few minutes of oxygen left. Please, don't do this." Kyou was getting desperate.
"She's gonna ram us!" Mai couldn't believe it.
"She'll kill all of you just to get to me?" Goji couldn't believe it. "She's insane."
"She's the High Templar of the God of War, boy. And you managed not only to piss her off, but apparently her God as well. So shut up, sit down, and if it is at all possible for you, could you stop doing stupid things for five minutes?"
"If you hadn't abducted me, none of us would be in this situation."
"Do you expect me to apologize for trying to save your life? Stop making things difficult!"
Despite Mai's attempts at evasive piloting, Satori's ship rammed into their starboard side. Alarms blared throughout the command center. The bone-tingling sound of metal scraping and warping against metal screeched and echoed. Bulkheads slammed shut, sealing oxygen into sections of the ship that weren't penetrated by Satori's reckless suicide run.
"Propulsion is gone." Mai cries out. "We're stuck in Hogar's gravity well."
"Everyone to the core of the ship and brace for impact!" Kyou ordered.
And, for the first time, Goji complied.